Picture this: You’re home after a long day at work (read: fighting fires in the office, ferrying the children around and running all sorts of errands). You muster up your remaining energy and open up the fridge to see what you can whip up for dinner. There’s nothing much, so you end up calling in delivery or eating at a nearby food centre. However, regularly relying on takeaway isn’t just bad for health, but also your bank balance.
Luckily, there is a way to stay prepared and keep your health on track when it comes to eating — meal prep. Dietitian and SunRice Health & Wellbeing ambassador Lyndi Cohen says that meal prepping isn’t as tough and as time-consuming as you may think, and shares how it can help you get back on track with healthy eating, whether you want to improve your cooking skills or shift a few kilos.
So why should you meal prep?
“Meal prepping eliminates how reliant we are on cravings so if there’s food already prepped, then we’re more inclined to eat what’s already been made,” she explains.
It’s not just good for weight loss, though; meal prep can also help you save time and money. “Often whenever we come home from work or wherever we’ve been for the day and we’re exhausted, the last thing we feel like doing is going shopping, finding the ingredients and cooking a healthy meal, we’re much more inclined to get takeaway. But when we dial in our dinner for takeaway, we end up spending more and sometimes it can be twice as expensive as anything you cook at home.”
So if you’re looking to hop on a healthier diet this year and keep your finances in check, start your meal prepping journey with Lyndi’s top tips: